Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Reading List: Tools for Survival

Suppose one day the music stops. We all live, more or less, as
part of an intricately-connected web of human society. The water that
comes out of the faucet when we open the tap depends (for the vast majority
of people) on pumps powered by an electrical grid that spans a continent.
So does the removal of sewage when you flush the toilet. The typical
city in developed nations has only about three days' supply of food on hand
in stores and local warehouses and depends upon a transportation
infrastructure as well as computerised inventory and payment systems
to function. This system has been optimised over decades to be
extremely efficient, but at the same time it has become dangerously
fragile against any perturbation. A financial crisis which disrupts
just-in-time payments, a large-scale and protracted power outage due to
a solar flare or EMP attack, disruption of data networks by malicious
attacks, or social unrest can rapidly halt the flow of goods and services
upon which hundreds of millions of people depend and rely upon without
rarely giving a thought to what life might be like if one day they weren't
there.

The author, founder of the essential
SurvivalBlog
site, has addressed such scenarios
in his fiction,
which is highly recommended. Here the focus is less speculative,
and entirely factual and practical. What are the essential skills and
tools one needs to survive in what amounts to a 19th century
homestead? If the grid (in all senses) goes down, those who
wish to survive the massive disruptions and chaos which will result
may find themselves in the position of those on the American frontier
in the 1870s: forced into self-reliance for all of the necessities
of life, and compelled to use the simple, often manual, tools which
their ancestors used—tools which can in many cases be fabricated
and repaired on the homestead.

The author does not assume a total collapse to the nineteenth century.
He envisions that those who have prepared to ride out a discontinuity
in civilisation will have equipped themselves with rudimentary
solar electric power and electronic communication systems. But at
the same time, people will be largely on their own when it comes to
gardening, farming, food preservation, harvesting trees for firewood
and lumber, first aid and dental care, self-defence,
metalworking, and a multitude of other tasks. As always, the
author stresses, it isn't the tools you have but rather the skills
between your ears that determine whether you'll survive. You may
have the most comprehensive medical kit imaginable, but if nobody
knows how to stop the bleeding from a minor injury, disinfect the
wound, and suture it, what today is a short trip to the emergency
room might be life-threatening.

Here is what I took away from this book. Certainly, you want to have
on hand what you need to deal with immediate threats (for example,
firefighting when the fire department does not respond, self-defence
when there is no sheriff, a supply of water and food so you don't become
a refugee if supplies are interrupted, and a knowledge of sanitation
so you don't succumb to disease when the toilet doesn't flush). If you have
skills in a particular area, for example, if you're a doctor, nurse, or
emergency medical technician, by all means lay in a supply of what you
need not just to help yourself and your family, but your neighbours.
The same goes if you're a welder, carpenter, plumber, shoemaker, or smith.
It just isn't reasonable, however, to expect any given family to acquire
all the skills and tools (even if they could afford them, where would they
put them?) to survive on their own. Far more important is to make the
acquaintance of like-minded people in the vicinity who have the diverse
set of skills required to survive together. The ability to build and maintain such
a community may be the most important survival skill of all.

This book contains a wealth of resources available on the Web (most
presented as shortened URLs, not directly linked in the Kindle edition)
and a great deal of wisdom about which I find little or nothing to
disagree. For the most part the author uses quaint units like inches,
pounds, and gallons, but he is writing for a mostly American audience. Please
take to heart the safety warnings: it is very easy to kill or gravely
injure yourself when woodworking, metal fabricating, welding,
doing electrical work, or felling trees and processing lumber. If
your goal is to survive and prosper whatever the future may bring,
it can ruin your whole plan if you kill yourself acquiring the
skills you need to do so.